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The Soviet Union launches Sputnik 1, the first artificial satellite.
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From October 4, 1957 till January 1, 2000
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The Soviet Union launches Sputnik 2 with the first animal aborde, Laika a dog.
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After one failed atempt, America launches Explorer 1 which acheives an orbit extending 1,560 miles.
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Congressional leaders create and sign the National Aeronautics and Space Act. NASA begins operation on October 1st.
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The Soviet Union launches cosmonaut Yuri A. Gagarin on a 108-minute flight. Gagarin was the first person to succesful orbit the globe.
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Astronaut Alan Shepard was the fist american to go into space. His suborbital flight lasted 15 minutes.
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John H. Glenn orbits the Earth three times in a nearly five-hour flight.
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Russian cosmonaut Alexei Leonov exits his Voskhod 2 capsule for a 12-minute spacewalk.
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As the US prepared for a three-man Apollo moon mission, a fire breaks out in a routine ground test. Astronauts Gus Grissom, Ed White, and Roger Chaffee were killed in the fire.
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Apollo 7 was the first Apollo mission to get astronauts off the ground.
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Apollo 8 astronauts Frank Borman, James Lovell, Jr., and William Anders become the first to leave the gravitational influence of the Earth in a six day flight.
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Apollo 11 touches down on the moon. Neil Armstrong and Edwin "Buzz" Aldrin, Jr., descend to the surface. "That's one small step for man, one giant leap for mankind," --- Armstrong.
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Intended to make the third lunar landing, Apollo 13 is most of the way to the moon when an explosion in its service module oxygen tanks cripples it. Astronauts James Lovell, Jr., John Swigert, Jr., and Fred W. Haise, Jr., use the lunar module as a lifeboat, slingshot around the moon, and return safely to Earth
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After an earlier attempt that failed due to a jammed hatch, three cosmonauts from the Soviet Union's Soyuz 11 mission successfully board the Salyut 1 space station. Their 24-day mission conducts scientific experiments and sets a new endurance record for space travel.
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Apollo 15 carries an electric cart, like a stripped-down, foldable golf cart, to the moon. The rover, capable of carrying two astronauts plus supplies, greatly extends their exploration range
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Skylab is launched on what will prove to be a six-year mission
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U.S. and Russian astronauts practice détente in space, Crews from Apollo 18 and Soyuz 19 meet in Earth orbit, shake hands on live TV, and spend two days together.
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Viking 1 soft-lands on Mars. Pictures show a stark, rocky landscape much like some Earthly deserts.
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Through August and September NASA launches Voyagers 1 and 2 on a grand tour of the solar system.
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NASA debuts its manned cosmic commuter, the space shuttle, with the first-ever launch of Columbia.
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The first space shuttle, Columbia, carries a crew of four—the largest crew ever to be launched into space on a single vehicle—on its first true mission.
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Sally K. Ride lifts off on the space shuttle Challenger to become the first American woman in space.
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In the first test of NASA's new Manned Maneuvering Unit, a sort of rocket backpack designed to fit over the astronauts' normal spacesuits, astronaut Bruce McCandless exits the space shuttle Challenger without a safety line.
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In a disaster seen live on television, the space shuttle Challenger disintegrates 73 seconds after liftoff. All seven astronauts are killed, including schoolteacher Christa McAuliffe.
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The first section of the Russian Mir space station, called the core module, is launched on a Proton rocket.
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A day after launching, the space shuttle Discovery opens its cargo bay doors to deploy a unique cargo: the 12-ton Hubble Space Telescope.
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Descending by parachute and protected by inflated airbags, the Mars Pathfinder probe breaks through the thin Martian atmosphere, settles to the surface, and bounces at least 15 times before coming to rest.
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Thirty-six years after becoming the first American to orbit the Earth, former astronaut John Glenn boards the space shuttle Discovery for a triumphant return.
